The present invention relates to a holster and more particularly to a handgun holster with an internal retention device for securely latching a handgun in the holster until its removal is desired by the holster wearer.
Handgun users, particularly those people engaged in law enforcement, require a holster in which a handgun remains securely held until being removed by the holster wearer. The holster must retain the handgun securely during not only the normal movements of the wearer, but also during more vigorous activity, possibly including physical contact such as action to restrain another person. While the holster should prevent unauthorized removal of the handgun, it should also permit rapid, safe and easy withdrawal of the handgun when its use is required by the holster wearer. Previous holster designs have compromised at least one of these objectives.
Devices intended to provide for maximum security of a handgun in a holster are generally of two types. In one type, an external security strap, such as one including a thumb break, is attached to the holster. In a second type, some form of internal security device is added to the holster. Most of such internal security devices are especially intended to prevent unauthorized removal of a handgun from the holster, as well as to prevent the handgun from falling out as a result of the wearer's activities.
Audley U.S. Pat. No. 1,113,530 discloses a leather holster having a spring-biased locking lug which engages the interior of the trigger guard of a handgun inserted into the holster. The lug is exposed to be pushed free from the trigger guard to permit removal of the handgun from the holster. Rogers U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,075 also discloses a holster having a spring-biased catch for engaging the trigger guard of a holstered handgun. The catch is shaped to allow the trigger guard to push it aside so that the handgun can be removed by moving it initially upward. These security devices do little to prevent the unauthorized removal of a holstered handgun from the holster by a person behind the wearer.
Baruch U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,376 discloses a holster in which pockets within the holster contain dowels which project into an ejection port and the trigger guard of a pistol. The pistol is released by a rearward motion including an outwardly twisting movement of the pistol butt away from the wearer's body. Thus, removal of the pistol is not particularly easy, but pulling the pistol butt away from a wearer, as might be expected of someone other than the holster wearer trying to take the pistol, can help release the pistol.
Bianchi et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,256,243 and 4,277,007 disclose a holster having a spring-biased finger which projects into the area surrounded by the trigger guard of a handgun in the holster, but the finger is moved aside by the trigger guard during normal withdrawal of the handgun. Perry U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,384 discloses a top-opening holster which includes a restraining wedge that projects into the trigger guard of a holstered handgun, but which is moved aside by the trigger guard as the handgun is rotated forward during withdrawal from the holster. Rogers et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,654 discloses a holster having a restraining device including bosses to engage the trigger guard, but which also are moved aside as the handgun is rotated forward during withdrawal. None of these retention devices would prevent a holstered handgun from being removed vertically upward or from the front of the holster wearer by another person. In addition, these holsters do not permit a handgun to be drawn with a simple, natural movement by the holster wearer, since the handgun must first be rocked forward to release it from the restraint.
Thus, none of the known prior handgun holsters is satisfactorily able to prevent unauthorized removal of a holstered handgun. In addition, none of such previously known holsters including internal handgun restraints permits easy and safe unholstering of the handgun while also permitting the holster wearer to keep hand and wrist in a natural, locked, shooting position, beginning with initial hand placement on the handgun and continuing through removal of the handgun from the holster to presentation on target.
What is still needed is a holster having an internally located retention device which permits a holstered handgun to be withdrawn in a natural motion by the holster wearer, but which also effectively prevents unauthorized withdrawal of a handgun from the holster by another person.